52 



THE OOLOGIST 



notes echoed and re-echoed among 

 the tules and could be heard half a 

 mile away. Over this great pond dra- 

 gon-flies hawk at midges; on a dead 

 tree near the bank a kingfisher has 

 his perch from which, on our approach, 

 he swooped down, twirling his watch- 

 man's rattle; in the swamp near by 

 we frightened up a bittern and sever- 

 al American Coots; and in the shal- 

 lows, near the shore, the White-face^l 

 Glossy Ibis was seen, standing knee 

 deep in the water, waiting patiently 

 for his victims. 



On one occasion we directed our at- 

 tention to the willows and cottonwood 

 trees bordering the slough on the 

 north and northwest and observed the 

 following birds: Willow Goldfinches, 

 Brewer Black Birds, Bullock Orioles, 

 House Pinches, Black-crowned Night 

 Herons, Arkansas King Birds, pair of 

 Black-chinned Humming Birds and one 

 lone Black-headed Grosbeak. The Wil- 

 low Goldfinches were nesting in the 

 swamp willow trees. 



They construct a compactly woven 

 cup-shaped nest, composed of plant 

 fibre, lined with down and other soft 

 materials. 



The Willow Goldfinch of California 

 is in form, color and habits so exactly 

 like the goldfinch or "thistle bird" of 

 the east that one wonders why west- 

 ern ornithologists have made a sub- 

 species of him. His shorter wings and 

 tail and his small black cap are the 

 only points of difference. 



The House Finches were nesting. 

 We counted fifteen nests on our first 

 visit to the slough. They construct 

 a beautiful little compactly woven cup, 

 composed of grass and vegetable fibre, 

 lined with feathers, horse-hair and 

 leaves. The House Finch is popular- 

 ly known through California as the 

 Linnet, and is one bird for whom the 

 residents have little praise. So num- 

 erous are these birds and so destruc- 



tive to fruit that a continual warfare 

 is waged against them by poison and 

 gun. To the tourist, the pretty pink- 

 breasted songsters are one of the at- 

 tractive features of the garden, where 

 they take the place of the robin of the 

 East. 



We have watched the finches feed 

 their young, by regurgitation at first 

 and later with fresh food, and very 

 rarely do they bring fruit to the nest. 

 Seeds of various weeds and small 

 green caterpillars formed the larger 

 part of the diet, at least of the nest- 

 lings. We firmly believe they will 

 some day be found to have accomplish- 

 ed a fair amount of good to offset the 

 evil charged against them, if in no 

 greater way than by eating the seeds 

 of injurious weeds. 



We will not go into detail, and de- 

 scribe the characteristics of all the 

 birds in this locality, but among the 

 mustard stalks on the hillside facing 

 the slough, was seen the Western 

 Meadowlark, Arkansas and Willow 

 Goldfinches, a flock of a hundred or 

 more feeding upon the seeds of the 

 weeds or plants and would fly up as 

 you come near, only to alight again 

 a few feet farther on singing the same 

 gay "perchicorese, per chic-o-ree" as 

 do their eastern kinfolk. The Califor- 

 nia Horned Lark was seen hopping 

 about in company with a large flock of 

 House Finches and Intermediate Spar- 

 rows. 



During the six hours we spent on 

 our last visit to this great bird land, 

 the following birds were observed: a 

 flock of Ameiican Coots, known by 

 the hunters as the "mud hen" swim- 

 ming on the northwestern bend. We 

 saw that some were nesting among the 

 tules on the eastern side. The same 

 flock of Blacked-crowned Night Herons 

 at rest among the cotton wood trees 

 on the south side, we expected to find 

 them nesting in the tules. but the sea^ 



